I think real DevOps works here just fine as long as your organization allows the time for deep work. If you are writing application code with 0% of your brain

I think real DevOps works here just fine as long as your organization allows the time for deep work. If you are writing application code with 0% of your brain lent to operational concern, you are writing it in a disconnected dream cloud and your organization will have problems that come from it. The answer to context switching is not do it several times per day. The answer is NOT to ignore operational concerns and mindsets. Many engineers pride themselves on having a wide set of skills and enjoy switching contexts, languages, tools and mindsets for variety and to reduce boredom.